189'< 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



153 



strength as a food depends ; (2) If any substance or sub- 

 stances have been raixt with it so as to lower, depreciate or 

 injuriously affect its strength, quality or purity ; (3) If any 

 inferior or cheaper substance or substances have been sub- 

 stituted wholly or in part for it ; (i) If any valuable or neces- 

 sary ingredient has been wholly or in part abstracted from it ; 

 (5)" If it is an imitation of, or sold under the name of another 

 article; (G) If it consists wholly or in part of a diseased, 

 decomposed, putrid, tainted, infected or rotten animal or 

 vegetable substance or article, whether manufactured or not; 

 or in case of milk if it is the produce of an infected or dis- 

 eased animal ; (7) If it is colored, coated, polisht or pow- 

 dered, whereby damage or inferiority is concealed, or if by 

 any means it is made to appear better than it really is ; (S) 

 If it contains any added substance or ingredients which is 

 poisonous or injurious to health: iVoiuJcci, That the pro- 

 visions of this Act shall not apply to mixtures and compounds 

 recognized as ordinary articles of food, or ingredients of arti- 

 cles of food, If each and every package sold or offered for sale 

 be distinctly labeled as mixtures or compounds, with the name 

 and per cent, of each ingredient therein, and that they are 

 not wholly or in part injurious to health. 



We hope the Bill from which we have extracted the above 

 paragraphs, will pass both branches of the Illinois legislature, 

 and then be energetically enforced. The Bill also provides 

 that $5,000 be appropriated for the enforcement of the Act, 

 and all fines collected to be added thereto. If past it goes into 

 effect on or after July 4, ISO". 



It would be well for all our readers to write their Repre- 

 sentatives and Senators at Springfield, III., to be on the look- 

 out for this Bill, and to do all in their power to secure its 

 passage. With such a weapon in the hands of beekeepers, 

 we think that all tamperers with pure honey would soon have 

 to seek other and more promising States wherein to carry on 

 their nefarious work. 



Xlie Importation of Apis Dorsata— the giant 

 bee of India — received no encouragement at the Lincoln con- 

 vention of the North American Bee-Keepers' Association, last 

 October. In fact, a strong resolution against their importa- 

 tion by the Government was past unanimously. This resolu- 

 tion was presented by Mr. L. D. Stilson, the Secretary of the 

 Nebraska State Bee-Keepers' Association. We were quite a 

 little surprised when he arose and read it, as it was the very 

 first intimation we had that any such action was contemplated 

 at that meeting. 



After the convention was over, our most Eastern contem- 

 porary saw fit to berate several of the prominent members for 

 favoring the passage of a resolution that they believed was all 

 right ; be even went so far as to accuse us and several others 

 of originating the resolution, and that it was upon their sug- 

 gestion that the matter was brought up for discussion. But 

 to further show the facts in the case, we take the following 

 from the Nebraska Bee-Keeper, written by Mr. Stilson himself: 



I have been reading with some interest the dicsussion, pro 

 and con, of the action of the Lincoln convention inregard to 

 the importation of Apis dorsata. Now, I wish to say that I 

 think but one or two gentlemen knew that such a resolution 

 was thought of until I read it and moved its adoption. As to 

 the why I feel opposed to the importation of Apis dorsata by 

 the general Government at this time and in the manner askt 

 for by the Ontario County Bee-Keepers' Association, I will say : 



First, I do not think it is a bee that would do us any good. 

 A score of years ago we had in our employ a bright young 

 man. A year or so later found him on his way as- a mission- 

 ary to Africa. Three or four more years pass along and he 

 revisits his boyhood home and parents in our town. While 

 here he described animals, insects, and bees, as found in that 

 far-off land. Altho not particularly interested in Apis 

 dorsata at that time, yet from his descriptions, and those read 

 later, I think they may be identical, or nearly so, and I at 

 present believe worthless to us, other than as curiosities. 



Now, gentlemen, instead of growling, and throwing stones 

 and slurs at " Root, Miller, York, or Mason," who dUl not in- 

 troduce the resolution at the Lincoln convention, throw them 

 at some one out in the Pacific Ocean. If Root or Miller or 

 York had needed Apis dorsata in their apiaries, like gentle- 



men they would have inclosed a SW bill with a well-provis- 

 ioned queen-cage to some agent or missionary in far-away 

 lauds, and had Apis dorsata queens to sell to their customers 

 before the (Government agent could pack his gripsack ready 

 to start. Whenever we have learned that Apis dorsata is any- 

 thing desirable, it will get hero. 



Ti?e Weekly Budget 



Mr. W. a. Shafnit, a bee-keeper at Brighton, Iowa, died 

 Feb. 20, of diabetes, after an illness of two weeks, though he 

 had been in poor health for almost three years. He was -17 

 years of age. 



Mr. M. F. Cram, Secretary of the Vermont Bee-Keepers' 

 Association, has recently lost his father by death. This will 

 account for the delay in sending in the convention report for 

 publicatioa, which appears in this number. 



Mr. E. S. LovEsr, of Utah, wrote us as follows, Feb. 2.5 : 

 " I have been sick, and also much overworkt with our local 

 conditions. I have received letters from six States asking if I 

 have forgotten my friends and the old American Bee Journal. 

 I can truly say that I have still a warm heart for both." 



Dr. W. B. House, in the last column on page 159, this 

 week, asks a very pointed question. Better read all he has to 

 say there. After reading it, just send him a 2-ceut stamp, 

 and take advantage of his generous offer. Of course you'll 

 answer his question at the same time, and tell him that you 

 saw it in the American Bee Journal. 



Mr. Thos. G. Newman, General Manager of the National 

 Bee-Keepers' Union, wrote us Feb. 22 as follows: 



"The Advisory Board voted long ago to ' aid Dr. Besse in 

 his lawsuit. The fault so far is in his lawyer, who will not 

 co-operate, and has not answered my last three letters. He 

 [the lawyer] probably has another scheme in view." 



Mr. R. C. Aikin, who, with his family, has been spending 

 the winter in Page Co., Iowa, did not decide to settle there as 

 he expected, but last week started for Larimer Co., Colo., 

 where his bees and home remain yet unsold. He will work 

 for another honey crop there. He expects to pass, through 

 southern Nebraska the latter part of this month, and see some 

 of the Nebraska bee-keepers. We take it that he intends to 

 return to Colorado in the same manner as he left— by horse and 

 wagon. It will be another long and tedious ride for himself, 

 the good wife, and dear baby. 



Mr. Thomas William Cowan, the well-known English 

 authority on bee-culture, is making quite a stay in California. 

 As we have before announced, he is visiting his son who is 

 located in Placer county, in the northern portion of the State. 

 The junior Mr. Cowan is engaged in fruit-culture, and his 

 father is of the opinion that it would be a good plan to keep a 

 number of colonies of bees in connection with the orchard. 

 Of course the British Bee Journal editor knows that bees and 

 fruit go well together. He has been corresponding with some 

 of the California bee-keepers with a view of getting a strain 

 of Italian bees to stock his son's place. His son has never yet 

 kept bees, and the father is anxious that he should begin with 

 Italians. The following is what Mr. Cowan has to say upon 

 the subject, the quotation being taken from a letter written 

 to one of the aforesaid correspondents : 



" He [referring to his son] does not know anything about 

 them himself, and I do not care about his beginning with 

 hybrids, as these are, as a rule, less manageable than the pure 

 breeds. I should not hesitate if it were for myself, as I have 

 handled the most vicious bees, but for a novice it would be 

 better to have pure-bred bees. I thought of Italian, as I know 

 they are a favorite bee in America, although with us they do 

 not do as well as the pure-bred English bee. I think it a good 

 plan for my son to start bees, even if they do not pay for their 

 keep, for the sake of the good they do in fertilizing the 

 blooms, and there are only some dozen colonies kept any- 

 where in the neighborhood. The man who keeps them de- 

 stroys his bees to take the honey. I hardly expected to find 

 any one here doing this." 



E^" This is a good time to work for new subscribers. 



